Thaumaturgist’s Observatory Printer Friendly Version   By BOSSMAN - Dec. 31, 1969 Fluff The rich and connected of the city are known to visit the manor of Thoth Aziel the Thaumaturgist where his services are keenly and handsomely rewarded, for his horoscopes are famed for their accuracy and their power. Over time he has become a celebrity of sorts, despite his furtive nature and the tinge of apprehension that most feel when alone in his company. Thus he often is invited to the tables of the powerful and sometimes to the beds of the idle aristocracy. Nestled amongst the villas of the rich on the fringe of the city his manor can be found atop a high hill. At night his solitary vigil in the observatory can be marked by the lights of lanterns and candles deep into the night. Hidden watchers have also reported to their masters that on some nights strange coloured lights flash from the interior of the manor and rank smells on ill founded winds gust about the hill. Though he is known for his horoscopes the wise secretly fear his sorcerous skills. Indeed Thoth Aziel has studied dark and forbidden lore. He mocks the trivial concerns of his clients but coin is needed to pursue his studies and his connections allow more nebulous activities to be continued with impunity. Amongst his clients he has built a following to worship the star gods with he as their high priest. They join the cult out of curiosity and boredom but soon fear to leave less they be the next font of blood for the ritual summonings and invocations dictated by the celestial signs marked by Aziel. Description The manor has two levels as well as the observatory tower, all are connected by a spiralling stone stair. Entrance to the manor is from the ground floor through a warded door. The lintel of the door is marked with runes and the semi-circle of skulls above the door give due warning to any trespassers. The doorway is situated at the rear of a covered entrance veranda upon which stand sigil inscribed pillars that support the study above. The ground floor contains a guard and storage area where the arrow slits can be manned. At the rear is a great fireplace used both for heating as well as during conjurations and summonings. To the left is the thaumaturgist circle where Aziel performs his rites. Carved braces support the floor of the level above. The second level is timber floored and also boasts a great hearth. Above the thaumaturgists circle on the ground floor is the living quarters of Aziel and above the entrance veranda is his study. The area above the guardroom is used for magical experiments and storage. The observatory is reached by the spiral stair which ends in a landing. From there a steep short flight of timber stairs gives access to the observatory. Also on this level is one side of the wheel mechanism that allows the observatory to be rotated and thus accessed by aligning the stairs with the opening in the floor of the observatory. The observatory itself rotates on a great stone disc with the upper portion mounted on iron wheels that follow a track about the perimeter of the tower. Large doors allow the observatory to be opened to the night sky. Inside the observatory is the other side of the wheel mechanism to rotate the observatory as well as the telescope. This telescope is a rarity and has been made with great lenses ground by skilled dwarven artisans and imbued with magical powers to pierce the filament and allow heavenly bodies to be tracked and observed. Construction The observatory is made of approximately 880 blocks cast in Patternstone H, a surprisingly large number for a modestly sized building. I have found that block counts escalate rapidly with more complex and detailed models. In addition the roof of this model used a surprisingly large number of blocks with a lot of wastage. Two key concepts drove the design of this building. The first was the observatory top which I partially built first and had to construct a building to accommodate it. The second was the thaumaturgists circle which was a concept born of another larger project but I just couldn’t wait to use it. (Look out for HADD4) The construction was relatively simple other than the timber floor and the roofing. The floor was cut to shape in cardboard then slats were attached and the overhangs sanded to shape. The roof was cut in cardboard and the tiles glued into place. Wall filler was used to make the connection between roof and tower tight. Due to the complex shape this proved a bit difficult and ended up a little bit wonky. (My first crack at the tiled roof!) I added some internal timber trusses so the roof would hold its shape when been removed. The roof ridge capping is made from the dragons teeth accessories. One of the dramas I encountered was with the second floor constantly bending out of shape whilst been handled and painted. This was a result of having no floor that would otherwise have given it some rigidity. The thaumaturgists circle is the 3” tower flooring surrounded by 3” tower walls (which fits in a 4” tower). Where the circle buts against the flooring instead of the walls the arch from the bridge mould was used as it allows the transition from curved to square blocks. The thaumaturgists circle was smoothed with wall filler and then inscribed with runes. (Runes were also carved in the lintel above the front door) The steps of the spiral stair were assembled in sections of 8 –10 bricks then the internal “core” was sanded out and the column blocks glued in place. I used wall filler to smooth the rear of the steps. The external door to the dome was made in cardboard with partial cuts to allow bending. Sanded lead roof tiles were the glued in place. Hinges were used to fix this in place. This was a bit tricky but the result was OK though fragile. It initially closed neatly but a after a couple of hinge failures and some distortion whilst adding the patina finish it has developed a growing gap. The timber stair was made with the wooden plank mould and was sanded to give a rear curvature to fit the inside circumference of the tower. The telescope was made with round pillars mounted on a stand which itself was made with a pillar base topped with the dome turret decorative piece. Moulds Used #170 Window & Door Edging (Edging brick) #50 Wizards Tower (Braces, basic blocks) #51 Dragon's Inn (Small brick window edging, triangular basic block) #52 Circular Tower (Braces, 4” tower blocks, 1” diameter block) #53 Bridge (Arch) #54 Gothic Church (Decorative caps, window edging trim knobs) #55 Bell Tower (Arches) #56 Tomb (Knobs, lead roofing, decorative spike) #60 Prison Tower Mould (1/8”, ¼” and ½” (peaked) arches, corner blocks) #61 Turret Mould (3” tower blocks, balcony blocks, arches, flooring, dome) #63 Octagon Mould (Arrow slits) #64 8” Round Tower Mould (Braces) #65 Ruined Tower Mould (4” tower arches, pillars) #70 Fieldstone Mould (Skulls) #80 Dragons Teeth Mould (Dragons teeth, dragons claw, pillar bases) #110 Assorted Blocks (“V” cut blocks) #140 Columns or Pillars (smooth columns) #164 Round Connector Pieces (Connector pieces) #220 Wooden Plank Mould (Planks and stairs) #230 Clay Roof Mould (Clay tiling, roof capping) #250 Small Brick Mould (Arches, decorative blocks, basic & wall builder blocks) In addition various floor blocks were gotten from many different moulds. Customising Some sanding as mentioned above was needed. In addition the skulls around, and on, the door are castings using GW skeletons as masters and the dragons head above the windows is from a Grendel “The Guardian” piece. The lens for the telescope is a fake gem from a craft shop. The disk for the observatory turret was also sanded to reduce the size of the gap where the wheels were to be situated. For the windows I had been playing with cardboard to cut some lattice shaped fill-ins but after seeing Ryan’s mill I decided to copy the flyscreen idea. I had some scraps of this tucked away in my hobby box so I cut these to shape, dry brushed and loosely glued them into place. After these had dried I then proceeded to dab wood glue into the voids which dried translucent and gave a very effective look. The idea struck me that the glue could be tinted for some highly decorative window effects (another idea!). As mention earlier, thick cardboard was used as backing for the roof and timber floor. It was also used for the door along with a prefabricated metal ring for the handle. Also a small plastic tab was layed at the base of the doors to enable it to stand. (Cut from a miniature blister pack) Painting I had toyed with various colour schemes and ended up just launching into the final colours which fortunately came up looking good. The building was painted using British Paints samples pots, the main colour been “fire wood”, (followed by a Citadel “brown wash”), highlighted with “timber” and then “ancient stone”. Some areas, in particular the front pillars were highlighted with a Folk Art paint, “gray green”. Folk Art paints were used for the timber works as follows; “nutmeg” followed by a Citadel “brown wash”, then highlighted with Folk Art “buckskin brown”. The roof was painted with Ceramacoat “autumn brown” followed by a Citadel “chestnut wash” then highlighted with Folk Art “buckskin brown”. Door fittings painted with Ral Partha “aged metal”, telescope with Citadel “brazen brass”. The thaumaturgist circle was painted with a flat black house paint and the runes in the circle and elsewhere painted in Citadel “mithril silver”. The dome was painted with a real copper paint then oxidised with a patina finish. This was somewhat unsuccessful but I don’t know why. The observatory turret wheels were painted with instant iron and again an oxidising agent used for the rust effect. These were all done using Modern Option paints.   1 Ratings     12345      Public Comments Please log in to post a comment    You must be a registered member to post comments. You may sign-in Here.

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